Anyone who is dedicated to art or is interested in buying and selling works in Madrid is in luck. The Community of Madrid will apply a 100% bonus on the Onerous Property Transfer Tax (ITPO) for the purchase and sale of works of art made through specialized galleries and dealers. This was announced by the president of the community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, during her visit to the Salón de Arte Moderno (SAM), which is celebrating its ninth edition in the Círculo de Bellas Artes as part of the ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair.
In this way, the Madrid government will eliminate the current 4% tax that applies to this type of transactions, which will mean savings that could be close to 700,000 euros for taxpayers linked to this activity, as reported in the document itself. web portal of the Community of Madrid.
The objective of the tax reduction is to improve the tax framework of the artistic sector within the regional powers and respond to a demand from the sector itself to strengthen its competitiveness in the international market, as explained by the government chaired by Díaz Ayuso.
A boost for the art market in Madrid
Almost 30% of the art galleries in all of Spain are located in the Community of Madrid, a country that occupies fifth place in the European art market, behind the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy. The idea is to advance positions as far as art is concerned within Europe.
According to the Madrid government, the bonus will make Madrid stronger in this area and will foster a more favorable tax environment for gallery owners, dealers and other cultural agents, which could attract new investors as well. In addition, it seeks to partially offset the impact of the 21% VAT that taxes this type of activities in Spain, a percentage much higher than that of other European countries such as Italy (5%), France (5.5%) or Germany (7%).
Other measures to support contemporary art
The tax bonus is added to other lines of support for contemporary art promoted by the Madrid Government. Among them, an allocation of 9.4 million euros stands out for the Museums and Exhibitions program in 2026.
In addition, since 2020, the Community has allocated 500,000 euros annually to the acquisition of artistic works, which has allowed 332 pieces to be incorporated into its public collections during this period.
Added to these initiatives are programs aimed at promoting emerging talent, such as the ‘Young Art Room’, ‘Plastic Arts Circuits’ or ‘Commissioner Wanted’, as well as institutional support for benchmark fairs and awards in the sector such as ARCO, ESTAMPA or APERTURA.